About Damien Rice
Damien George Rice is an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the 1990s rock group Juniper, who were signed to Polygram Records in 1997. The band enjoyed moderate success in Ireland with two released singles, "The World is Dead" and "Weatherman". After leaving the band in 1998, Rice worked as a farmer in Tuscany and busked throughout Europe before returning to Ireland in 2001 and beginning a solo career. The rest of Juniper went on to perform under the name Bell X1.
In 2002, Rice released his debut album, O. It reached No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart, won the Shortlist Music Prize, and generated three top 30 singles in the UK. He released his second album, 9, in 2006. After eight years of various collaborations, Rice released his third studio album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy, in 2014. He has contributed music to charitable projects such as Songs for Tibet, the Enough Project, and the Freedom Campaign.
Rice was born in Dublin on 7 December 1973, the son of George and Maureen Rice. He grew up in Celbridge, County Kildare where he attended Salesian College. He is the second cousin of Irish singer Stevie Mann and English composer David Arnold.
Rice formed the rock band Juniper along with Paul Noonan, Dominic Philips, David Geraghty and Brian Crosby in 1991. The band met whilst they were schoolmates in Celbridge. After touring throughout Ireland, they released their debut EP Manna in 1995. Based in Straffan, the band continued touring and signed a six album record deal with PolyGram. Their recording projects generated the singles "Weatherman" and "The World is Dead", which received favourable reviews. They also recorded a song named "Tongue", which was later released on the Bell X1 album Music in Mouth. The song "Volcano" was also written with Juniper but not released. It was later released by both Bell X1, on the album Neither Am I, and on Rice's debut album O.
After achieving some of his musical goals with Juniper, Rice became frustrated with the artistic compromises required by the record label, and he left the band in 1998. He moved to Italy, where he settled in Tuscany and took up farming for a time, then returned to Ireland before busking around Europe. He returned to Italy a second time and gave a demo recording to his second cousin, English composer David Arnold, who then provided him with a mobile recording studio.
In 2001, Rice's song "The Blower's Daughter" made a top-40 chart. Over the next year he continued to record his album with guitarist Mark Kelly, New York drummer Tom Osander aka Tomo, Paris pianist Jean Meunier, London producer David Arnold, County Meath vocalist Lisa Hannigan and cellist Vyvienne Long. Rice then embarked on a tour of Ireland with Hannigan, Tomo, Vyvienne, Mark and Dublin bassist Shane Fitzsimons.
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